India – A Portrait by Patrick French is an intimate biography of 1.2 billion people. The economic & social revolution in India has been one of the big surprises of this century so far. India as a country has long been characterised by such adjectives as ‘timeless’, ‘spiritual’ & ‘backward’ yet, it is now viewed as ‘hi-tech’, ‘go-getting’ & ‘materialistic’. Patrick French, who has spent much of his life engaged with India, examines the real nature of this rapid change & what its roots are by talking to a large cross-section of society, from political leaders to Maoist revolutionaries & from Mafia dons to chained quarry workers. Looking at the cultural foundations that made India’s accelerated transformation from socialist economy to capitalist powerhouse possible; French creates a vivid picture of what it is like to live at a time when, on the one h&, millions have pulled themselves free of poverty, yet on the other h&, violence, corruption & caste prejudice have been equally given new outlets.